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Who's going to be a millionaire? Not me, 8 in 10 Americans say

About two in 10 Americans, who are less optimistic than
Australians but more optimistic than Britons about becoming wealthy
in the next ten years, according to a new AP-CNBC poll.

In all three countries, more than seven in 10 of those surveyed
said they were unlikely to become millionaires in the next decade.

Reflecting the psychic toll of the global economic doldrums,
solid majorities of Americans - 61 percent - and Britons - 63
percent - say it's extremely or very difficult for their countrymen
to become millionaires today.

"It's an unrealistic thing for anybody to assume," said Jason
Hall, 35, a heavy equipment operator in Loganville, Wis.

Across the pond, 19-year-old Natasha Hill, an apprentice at a
London hair salon, said many of her friends looking for work amid
high unemployment have essentially given up.

"There's no determination, nothing to aim for," Hill said.
"Everyone is in robot mode - they just settle."

On the flip side of the planet, just 35 percent of Australians
feel the same way, the results found.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes you can" become a millionaire, said
Australian student Hannah Peters, 21. "Anybody can become a
millionaire. There are so many opportunities here. You just have to
know how to go about it."

The Aussies have reason to be so darned sunny.

Unemployment there is 5.3 percent, nearly half the United
States' 9.1 percent. Just under 8 percent of Brits are out of work.
And a natural resources boom in Western Australia is helping grow
the country's economy about 3 percent this year, according to
forecasts by the International Monetary Fund. The equivalent figure
for the United Kingdom is 1.7 percent and for the U.S. economy, 2.8
percent, though many private economists expect it to be lower.

Still, becoming a millionaire was tough to imagine for many Down
Under.

"My pay is lousy and I spend it," said Tasmanian Brian Draney,
a 47 year-old lineman and father of two young children.

Polling last month by The Associated Press and CNBC found that
Australians are the most optimistic of the bunch, with 29 percent
of respondents there saying they feel good about their prospects of
eventually becoming a millionaire in the next decade, compared with
21 percent in the U.S. and just 8 percent in the U.K.

In reality, the United States leads the world in millionaires,
more than 5.2 million of them in 2010, or nearly one in every 20
households, according to The Boston Consulting Group's latest
annual global wealth report. Great Britain had 570,000
millionaires, or about one in every 45 households. Australia had
133,000 or about one in every 60 households, but that's an increase
of 35,000 over the previous year.

The BCG survey measured millionaires in terms of U.S. dollars.
Those polled by AP and CNBC were asked how likely it was that
they'd be worth a million of their own monetary unit - U.S.
dollars, Australian dollars or British pounds. One million American
dollars is worth about 964,000 Australian dollars, and about
633,000 British pounds.

But the difference is academic when large majorities never think
they'll have such fortunes to their names.

"I'll never make a million, because my family is bleeding me
dry," said Brian Bolton, a married 47-year-old civil servant in
Brisbane, Australia, who has two young children. "Every day my
bank balance is substantially lighter and I don't know where it
goes."

Asked to imagine being millionaires, residents of all three
countries had similar priorities for spending it: The bulk of them
said they would save it, invest it, buy real estate, pay down debt
and share with family, the survey said.

Respondents across the board listed "saving or investing" as
their first priority. The last priority? Americans and Australians
listed "giving away to charity."

"I'd give charity a taste," said Draney, the lineman from the
Australian island state of Tasmania. On second thought: "That's
just asking for trouble because then they'd annoy me for the rest
of my life."

Brits left "paying down debt" for last, the polls showed.

Wail Al-Dour, 26, has trouble even envisioning himself as a
millionaire. His chosen career, filmmaking, is tough to break into.

"The environment right now is hard," he said in London.
"Everyone thinks they're going to be just scraping by."

Back at the London hair salon, Charlotte Hagan-Boyla, 19,
confesses to "spending money the day I get it."

But becoming a millionaire, she thinks, isn't out of the
question. You could win the lottery, she reasoned, or you could
work your way up.